Code of Curiosity: How AI Can Unlock Human Wonder

Welcome to S4E8 of the @MAGICademy Podcast, where we give a warm welcome to Barbara Oakley. She is a professor and the master brain behind the course “Learning How to Learn”, available in Coursera, which has been took by more than a million people making it one of the more successful open learning courses on the platform. We talked about the curiosity in all of us, and how it’s necessary for everyone who wishes to learn a new concept, language or anything they need to know.

Barbara tells us how she developed the course after seeing the disconnection between what was being taught and what actual, modern students need to be taught. She found out that the most important part was to focus on the way of learning before diving into the subject per se, so we can use our curiosity to interest ourselves more on what we need to learn. Barbara also shares some insights on the neurological process behind learning and curiosity, and gives some advice on how to use tools at hand to prepare us to learn something new.

Conversation Outline

02:30 - Barbara introduces herself

03:28 - About “Learning How to Learn” and Barbara’s background

08:02 - The neurological process behind curiosity

12:35 - Different types of curiosity

17:18 - Activating the closure-driven curiosity in learning

19:59 - Harnessing curiosity to learn faster

23:36 - The future for Barbara

35:44 - Jiani’s recap of the episode

37:52 - Barbara’s passion when growing up

38:44 - The role of childlike wonder in Barbara’s life

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